Turkish

Turkish settlement in Australia

Migration from Turkey to Australia was minimal before the 20th century.

After World War I, Turkish people in Australia were classified as ‘enemy aliens’. Along with the White Australia policy and the Enemy Aliens Act, this restricted Turkish migration for many decades.

Formal migration from Turkey began in 1967, when the Australian government introduced an assisted migration scheme known as the assisted passage agreement. This was the first such scheme offered outside western Europe.

Turkish cuisine has since become a popular part of Australia’s food culture. Dishes such as baklava, doner, pide and meze are widely enjoyed and recognised, reflecting language and cultural influence.

Many local councils and cities recognise the importance of language for communities from non-English-speaking backgrounds. They provide essential information in English and other languages to support community engagement.

For example, the Mildura City Council offers a Turkish-language fact sheet. A link to a longer document is available in newspaper resources.

A document showing which household items should be placed in which garbage bin. The list is sorted alphabetically and each item has a yellow, green, or red coloured square, indicating which bin it should go in. Red for trash, yellow for recycling and green for greenwaste. The list is written in Turkish

Mildura (Vic. : Rural City). Council. and Mildura (Vic. : Rural City). Council, issuing body, HANGİ KOVALAR? : Kovalarınızı kullanmak için Kılavuz, 2020, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2963507733

Newspaper resources

Eight people stand infront of a desk. There are 6 men, one woman and a small boy. The woman is wearing a headscarf and carrying a shopping back and a handbag. One man is holding tickets/papers. Another man holds a passport.

Ern McQuillan, Turkish migrants arriving at Mascot Airport, Sydney, 15 November 1968, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138111798

A photograph of a large group of people seated in an auditorium. A balding man is standing at a microphone addressing the audience.

Ern McQuillan, Turkish migrants at the Villawood Migrant Hostel, New South Wales, 15 October 1968, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138111905

A man with a dark moustache and a white apron is carving meat from a revolving pile to be used for kebabs.

Fahrettin Hazar prepares Doner Kebab - Turkish Festival, Melbourne, 1995, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-143168840

Learning activities

Activity 1: Write a mystery article
Have students write a newspaper article about a mystery—real or imagined. This activity encourages students to:

consider the writing style and tone
demonstrate a range of grammatical and stylistic techniques
tailor their writing for a specific audience and purpose

Activity 2: News from the homeland
Hold a class discussion on how the delivery of information from a country of origin might influence the content and tone of newspapers written in that language. Consider:

political or media influences
cultural values and narrative styles
the impact of distance and diaspora

Activity 3: Explore multilingual newspaper content
Ask students to explore the articles and content of the newspaper resources linked earlier in the module. Encourage them to: